365//365: Day 204 – Star Wars Battlefront 2 (Xbox) [PP]

07.23.2010

As one of my Top 25 of This Decade, Star Wars Battlefront 2 is an experience that, while not without its faults, is so engaging, epic in scale and thoroughly enjoyable for a Star Wars fan, that it’s something that should not be passed up. A third person shooter within a large scale map, consisting of large scale battles, piloting AT-AT walkers and snowspeeders….what more could you ask for? For one thing, the ability to pick up new weapons is one. While there are a myriad of classes, characters and such, some with special perks, the immersion would be even thinker if weapon pick ups were allowed. Even with that lack of diversity, the epic pace and feeling of each match was something you rarely saw in a non RPG release. The addition of “Hero” class characters added a layer of mindless fun, enabling you to temporarily play as such staples as Han Solo, Count Dooku and other feature named characters from the Star Wars Universe. Each map has its own vehicular layout, allowing for some reenactments of historic Star Wars battles in ways that gamers have never experienced before. The game world, characters and vehicles all look believable, though could use some environmental texture work, with an excellent musical score and iconic sound effects to coincide with it. While there were offline components that were enjoyable, such as historic battles, as well as pitting different faction from different time periods against one another, it was the multiplayer component that really drove the experience home. Sadly, with the Xbox servers being shut down earlier this year, a major component of the high level excitement was unplugged. However, even offline multiplayer, although limited to four players is still a blast. If you can put up with less people playing at once, as well as a brainless AI, Star Wars Battlefront 2 is still one of the top 25 of the last decade.

While the Hero Class are restricted from entering vehicles, as well as limited exposure time, it's still a rush playing as Darth Maul, slicing up soldiers left and right.

Jason V.

I am the Co-Editor-in-Chief here at Chocolate Lemon. Over the last 15 years, I have been writing gaming articles here and there, including my time with GameSages, a then IGN affiliated video game code database that's now owned by IGN, as well as my near four year stay on this very site. I'm quite the gaming enthusiast, have a somewhat "old school" soul, and enjoy a wide variety of geeky shows, movies and so on. Follow me on Twitter @Jas0nVelez